The Supreme Court on Friday is expected to deliver a judgment on whether a probe is required into the controversial Rafale fighter jet deal. The verdict is scheduled for 10.30 am, after the court hears a clutch of petitions demanding a court-monitored investigation into the Rs 59,000 crore deal with France. The apex court will also decide if the government followed the correct process in making the deal.

The court has also examined the decision-making process and the induction of the offset partner. The three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi will announce its verdict in the case.

Congress on Thursday named veteran leader Kamal Nath as Madhya Pradesh's next chief minister after marathon consultations by the party chief Rahul Gandhi with senior leaders including Sonia Gandhi, even as hectic parleys continued for the other two newly-won states Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

While 72-year-old Nath reached Bhopal to get formally elected as leader of the Congress Legislative Party by the newly-elected MLAs in the night itself at a meeting also attended by another contender Jyotiraditya Scindia, the tussle between the old and the young guard continued to hinder the selection process for the chief ministerial face in Rajasthan.

Sachin Pilot, 41, reached Gandhi's official residence in Lutyens' Delhi for a second time late in the night. Soon after Pilot left, 67-year-old Ashok Gehlot also reached the Gandhi residence again, as the party leadership continued to discuss the claims by the two leaders for the top post in Rajasthan.

Gandhi also held discussions with party leaders in Chhattisgarh on Thursday to decide on the new chief minister for the state, the party sources said, but postponed the decision to Friday for holding wider discussions with the contenders.

RBI board meeting under new governor Shaktikanta Das to be held today

The central board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under new governor Shaktikanta Das will meet on Friday where the directors are likely to push for a greater say in the decision making of the central bank. The meeting will review the progress with respect of some of the decisions taken in the last meet on 19 November. Among other things, the crucial board meeting is expected to take a stock of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which is under stress due to demonetisation and implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

This scheduled meeting comes in the backdrop of surprise resignation by Urjit Patel earlier this week citing personal reasons. However, the tussle between the finance ministry and RBI was attributed as the reason for the sudden exit of Patel, who would have completed his three-year term in September 2019. According to sources, one of the key agenda for the upcoming board meeting will be governance issue — the role of the central board in the decision-making of the RBI.

Day-long strike called by BJP in Kerala over man's self-immolation attempt at Sabarimala

The Kerala unit of the BJP called for a dawn-to-dusk strike in the state on Friday after a man, who attempted self-immolation near the party’s Sabarimala protest venue in Thiruvananthapuram, died at the Medical College Hospital. BJP alleges that the Kerala chief minister is responsible for Venugopalan's death as they say the Ayyappa devotee was sad about the happenings.

Australia versus India, second Test at Perth

Having won the Adelaide Test, the touring Indian side enter the second Test against Australia with a 1-0 lead, but the new Optus Stadium at Perth offers a different challenge for Virat Kohli and his team. The visitors go in without a specialist spinner, with Umesh Yadav and Hanuma Vihari coming in for injured R Ashwin and Rohit Sharma in the playing XI. Australia won the toss and Tim Paine decided to bat first.

Qualcomm trying to ban sale of new iPhones in China

Qualcomm is trying to get Apple's 2018 iPhones banned from China after a win in court earlier this week delivered a preliminary ban on Apple's older phones. As per a report, Qualcomm has now asked courts in China to issue an order that puts as blanket ban on Apple from selling this year's iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR within the country due to the same possibility of patent infringement.

We're working on second season of Mirzapur: Farhan Akhtar

Farhan Akhtar's production venture Mirzapur has been appreciated by the audience. He has revealed that the makers of the show have already started working on a second season. Farhan said: "I am feeling really happy. It's the second show which we have created with Amazon Prime Video. Our earlier collaboration 'Inside Edge' was a successful web series and now Mirzapur is getting more success than that. So it is really nice thing and we are here to celebrate." Asked if they have planned to create the second season of Mirzapur, he said: "Yes, of course. Hopefully, very soon we will start shooting for it."